# Commemorative self-gift -- Larry Roush 1758 Bella Cera Billiard



## Garys4598 (Jan 16, 2010)

I received this week from Larry Roush, a very special pipe. . . special to me because it commemorates a very important date in my life. After eleven long years. . . last week I posted in the mail my very last child support payment; my youngest turns eighteen on the 27th of June.
:banana:. . .:banana:. . .:banana:

A few months ago I contacted Larry Roush with a pipe commission request (for this special occasion). I genuinely cannot say how often it is that Larry accepts commissions, for all I know he'll only do so on rare occasions. Heck, maybe he accepts customers' requests frequently (but somehow, I really don't think so).

Nonetheless, Larry and I have a little bit of history together via my last year spent wearing the U.S. Army uniform while serving in South Korea during 2003-2004, and my sending him bottles of red ginseng which he was kinda into at the time. He'd send me pipe tobacco samples in return. But I'm sure you all don't care to hear about all that. . .

So, without further adew, I present you my latest (and likely _last_) Larry Roush billiard pipe (Roush #1758 ), in Larry's Bella Cera natural finish. To convey that I am royally stoked is a mild understatement! :bounce: 









I own two other Roush billiards, both in his standard rusticated stained finish. . . which is why I was really excited to have this commemorative pipe created in his Bella Cera natural rusticated then sand blasted finish.










I realize it's likely difficult to discern via the photos above, but this Roush #1758 is rather 'magnum' in size, coming in with an overall length of approximately 6.9 inches, which is _fantastic_ for my pipe smoking tastes.

*So what do you think?* Are there any other Larry Roush connoisseurs here in the Puff pipe smoking community (I seem to recall one or two others)? Nothing much finer than a Roush pipe, IMHO. But. . . that's one of the terrific things about pipe collecting and enjoying, there is simply so many different fine craftsman and artisans to choose from!

ipe:


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## Magnate (Nov 27, 2009)

I know nothing of which you speak... maybe one day you can school me... til then, I'll just admire the pics.


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## IHT (Dec 27, 2003)

i've seen a few Roush pipes (other peoples), and they are pretty to look at.
i just don't know how comfortable they are to smoke, the way he makes his stems... i've never smoked one, so i can only assume that they'd be difficult to smoke hands-free based on the shape of the stems, they're not flat across, and a lot of them are pretty angular from front to back (stummel to button)... to me, id' never be able to smoke it "hands-free", the thing would always squirt out from my teeth. <-- just a guess, anyway.
everyone i know who has one (or more), likes them.


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## GreatBonsai (Jun 30, 2008)

Red ginseng, you say? I might have to try it sometime during the next 11 months... Gotta love S. Korea!


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## Garys4598 (Jan 16, 2010)

IHT said:


> i've seen a few Roush pipes (other peoples), and they are pretty to look at.
> i just don't know how comfortable they are to smoke, the way he makes his stems... i've never smoked one, so i can only assume that they'd be difficult to smoke hands-free based on the shape of the stems, they're not flat across, and a lot of them are pretty angular from front to back (stummel to button)... to me, id' never be able to smoke it "hands-free", the thing would always squirt out from my teeth. <-- just a guess, anyway.
> everyone i know who has one (or more), likes them.


What you convey is likely so. I do know that Larry cuts his stem bits rather thin and contours the button appropriately, for a very comfortable smoking experience. Myself being a smoker that does not "clench" the pipe in my teeth, I cannot say whether what you believe is factual.

I can say though that no one (and I mean _abso-friggen-lutely *NO ONE*_); no pipemaker makes a better mortise to tennon fit with delrin, than Larry Roush. Yes, there may be a very few pipemakers that make _as good_ a fit (although I've never personally run across one), but I'd bet my farm that no Scandinavian or any other maker, creates a better and tighter fit. Larry's fabrication mastery is truly superlative in that specific regard.

:beerchug:


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## dmkerr (Oct 27, 2008)

I like the pipe - don't get me wrong.

But I'm WAY more excited about your last child support payment! :dude:

As someone who has joint custody of my kids and STILL has to pay child support to my ex, I'm envious as hell! Congrats on keeping your spirit up, and enjoy that pipe! :beerchug:


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## Jack Straw (Nov 20, 2008)

Those sort of angular shanks aren't really my thing, but I love that rustication. I wonder how he did that, with the ring grain and all. It almost looks like he blasted it first then went over with a wire wheel or pick.


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## Garys4598 (Jan 16, 2010)

Jack Straw said:


> Those sort of angular shanks aren't really my thing, but I love that rustication. I wonder how he did that, with the ring grain and all. It almost looks like he blasted it first then went over with a wire wheel or pick.


Although I could be mistaken, I recall reading two years or so ago (when Larry first came out with his blasted Bella Cera briar finishes) that he first performs his standard craggy 'rustication' on the briar, then he goes back and sandblasts it.

Additionally, based on numerous emails shared with him during the course of the last several years, I'd say significantly less than 40% of his pipes receive this type of blasted, unstained/natural finish. It's equivalent to "the diamond in the rough" metaphore; when fabricating and crafting the pipe, Larry doesn't know whether he will pursue this blasted finish with each pipe he makes, until "he gets to that stage." As most of us know, some briar blocks simply don't have the best grain or lack of imperfections once you get beneath the wood.

Larry has conveyed to me that regardless as to what the customer might order, if/when he gets to the final briar finishing. . . and the particular briar he is working on has a spectacular straight grain with no imperfections (i.e., bald spots, sand pits, etc.), then regardless as to what his original intent was for that particular pipe, he will make it a smooth finish. . . which are even more rare for him.

Okay, so that's likely more than you wanted to know.

:moony:


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## Garys4598 (Jan 16, 2010)

dmkerr said:


> I like the pipe - don't get me wrong.
> 
> But I'm WAY more excited about your last child support payment! :dude:
> 
> As someone who has joint custody of my kids and STILL has to pay child support to my ex, I'm envious as hell! Congrats on keeping your spirit up, and enjoy that pipe! :beerchug:


Thank you *dmkerr*, I appreciate the sentiments. . . and absolutely empathize with your angst. With my ex-wife, I only had two children, the oldest of which just completed her sophomore year of college. Crappy thing about that (my own predicament and experiences with child support payments), when my daughter turned 18 years old a little more than two years ago, and I contacted my attorney to see about reducing my child support payments (since my PSA court documents states that once the child turns eighteen, or otherwise becomes emancipated from the custodial parent, etc.) child support ceases. . . . I determined that in the long run it would be less expensive for me if I simply continued to pay the same monthly amount of child support, as though my daughter were still under eighteen years of age. . . and wait two years until my son turned eighteen, then I could be completely DONE WITH IT.

How and why so? Because as you likely well know the court systems and the attorneys have us by the nuts. Two years ago (when my daughter turned eighteen) I would have had to go BACK into court, and seek reduction of my child support payment level based on my and my ex-wife's then income levels. That would have been like getting divorced all over again, if you catch my drift; the court and attorney fees would have been in the thousands of dollars no doubt (I friggen despise the "Commonwealth of Virginia"). So. . . I continued to pay the same monthly amount. . . and simply mentally chalked things up to my ex would contribute to my daughter's college expenses via my child support payments.

Anyway, to convey that I am so bloody ecstatic to be completely finished with making payments to my evil ex-wife. . . to have that monthly income now for myself. . . and to no longer feel personally compelled to be "civil" with my ex, is a huge understatement!

:dude:. . . :dude:. . . :dude:. . . :dude:


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